Summary of the Oct 2010 Bon Beer Voyage Belgium Beercation

Day 3 Monday October 25th(Sailing from Bruges to Ghent)

Our Barge, The Iris

This morning we had the pleasure of a relaxed breakfast while being able to enjoy the scenery as the barge sailed slowly from Bruges to Ghent through the canal. We played a few rounds Beer Cap Bingo for some cool prizes.

View during the Morning Sail to Ghent

Rainbow seen during the Morning Sail to Ghent

After another gourmet lunch on the barge we met up with a much smaller canal boat for an informative tour of the historic city of Ghent from the water.

View of the Ghent waterway from the canal boat

View of the Ghent waterway from the canal boat

After the canal boat tour we all decided to fortify ourselves with a beer before we headed over to see the “torture” devices at the Gravensteen Castle (now a torture museum).

Café ‘t Galgenhuis

We headed to the smallest bar in Ghent, Café ‘t Galgenhuis, which is an old “hangman’s” or gallows house turned into a bar.

What a huge fluffy head on this Buffalo Belgian Bitter

Gouden Carolus Noël

Rochefort 10

Rochefort 10, a Quadrupel with an abv of 11.30% brewed at the Brasserie de Rochefort and the House Beer Mammelokker, a 6.0% Bruin.﻿

inside ‘t Waterhuis aan de Bierkant

After our visit to the Waterhuis we walked next door to sample some of the 200 types of jenever at ’t Dreupelkot.

't Dreupelkot ad and Pol behind the bar

Pol at ‘t Dreupelkot pouring some jenever

At ‘t Dreupelkot we were greeted by Pol, a Santa Claus looking character. We tried the vanilla, the chocolate, the banana and various mixtures of these before we convinced the new jenever junkies in our group to leave the bar!

After our jenever experience, we took a short walk to De Dulle Griet.

Dulle Griet "Mad Meg" the Red Cannon in Ghent

After we all saw the cannon we went to the “other” Dulle Griet.

De Dulle Griet

Dulle Griet has over 250 different bottle beers on their menu. Their specialty is their famous “The Max”, which is Kwak from Brouwerij Bosteels poured into a Kwak Yard Glass. As you may know, these glasses are not cheap, so in order to deter sticky fingered visitors from making them into souvenirs, patrons ordering “The Max” must take off one of their shoes as collateral. The shoes is then put into a basket and hoisted to the ceiling by a pulley system. When the glass is returned, so is the shoe! This bar can get crowded, so as a courtesy to your fellow imbibers, if you plan to have a Kwak, wear your odor eaters, please!

While in the café we all had a chance to try the Westvleteren 12, 8 & the Blonde.

In de Vrede bliss

The 3 Westvleteren's (the 12 the Blonde & the 8)

The 12 is a Quadrupel at 10.20% abv,

The 8 is a Dubbel at 8.00% abv and

The Blonde is a Belgian Pale Ale at 5.80% abv.

Cheers from Westvleteren

After tasting these world class beers, some of the group visited the Claustrum, which is an exhibition room where you can get a feel about a monk’s life in the abbey.

We left In de Vrede and walked across the street to the Abbey. We found out that our timing was amazing, since that day, for the 1st time they would be selling 3 packs (one 12, one 8 & one Blonde) to the general public in the area where the cars usually pick up their crates of Westvleteren beer.

Westvleteren 8 crates

Westvleteren price list

Normally you can only buy this beer either by the 6 pack at In de Vrede, if available, (and not on a Saturday, when we were there) or by the crate at the Abbey by making a reservation in advance by phone only. So, to our delight we were able to purchase a few 3 packs from the monks along with some Westvleteren infused chocolates!

Here we were 1st given a tour of the facilities and a history of the brewery by Mous, the 93 year old mother of the brewers.

Mous giving a tour of De Dolle Brouwers

Mous tells us the story of the De Dolle beers

De Dolle Brouwers tour

After this very informative tour we got a chance to sample some of the beers.

Else, the wife of Kris Herteleer, one of the 2 brother brewers, poured us a tasting of Oerbier and Arabier from the tap.

Else describing how the Oerbier is made and how it should taste

Else shows us how to properly pour the beer

Else coaches Ruth on the proper pour

Else & Ruth toast to a successful pour of Oerbier & Arabier

Oerbier is their flagship beer which is a Belgian Strong Dark Ale at 9.5% abv.

Arabier is a Belgian Strong Pale Ale at 7.0% abv.

Bill enjoying his Oerbier

Bill & brewer Kris Herteleer discussing brewing techniques

De Dolle Tasting Room

Else & Maria model the proper “bar wear”

After tasting those 2 beers, we had a couple of surprises. The 1st surprise was a chance to taste the Lichtervelds Blond.

Lichtervelds Blond

Lichtervelds Blond is a Tripel at 9.0% abv and is made almost exclusively for the town of Lichtervelds.

Else explained that 80% of their production of this brew, which is made once per year, is given to the town of Lichtervelds for a festival, with the other 20% kept at the brewery to be sold only for consumption onsite.

Our 2nd surprise came after discussing Christmas beers and questioning when the 2010 Stille Nacht would be available. To our astonishment, Else pulled out of the refrigerator a bottle from their 1st bottling of this year’s version, which was bottled only 3 days prior. She confessed that she and her husband Kris hadn’t even tasted this year’s batch. They were going to save that bottle to taste that evening, but fortunately for us, they were kind enough to share it with us!

The 2010 Stille Nacht- bottled on Oct 20th 2010

Stille Nacht is a Belgian Strong Dark Ale at 12.0% abv.

Bill showing off the bottle of this year’s Stille Nacht

Else tasting the 2010 Stille Nacht

This year’s batch is fantastic and was less sweet then the past few years, which made this one extremely drinkable. I would suggest finding this brew to drink now and to save a few to age.

By the way, Kris is not only a fantastic brewer, but a fabulous artist. Throughout the brewery and bar area you can see his artwork.

Art work by De Dolle brewer Kris Herteleer

Kris showing Ruth some of his art work and his sketchbook of Brugge

After dinner on the barge, which was as good as you would find in a 3 star Michelin restaurant, some of us went on a beer hunting expedition to ‘tBrugs Beertje .

‘t Brugs Beertje

At Brugs Beertje we sat down and shared a few brews and great beery conversation with my friend Filip Geerts, who produces the Belgian Beer Board website, his wife Katrien, and Regnier,who runs the Bruges bottle shop DeBier Tempel .

Friends sharing a few beers at ‘t Brugs Beertje

Before we got a chance to look of the beer menu, Filip & I exchanged early Christmas gifts. I got him the Cigar City Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout from Cigar City Brewingand he got me the Bush AmbréeTriple. This Belgian Strong Pale Ale has a 12.0% abv and comes from Brasserie Dubuisson Frères. This beer was made for the 75th anniversary of Bush.

Here is a list of beers we sampled at Brugs Beertje:

Guido

Guido -a Belgian Strong Dark Ale of 8.0%abv which is no longer being brewed by Brouwerij Smisje. Filip, in addition to keeping up the Belgian Beer Board, also contributes to the Smisje website.

Note: This is a great sipping beer & like most Belgian Strong Dark Ales, it improves as it warms up in the glass.

The trademark BUSH has only been registered in a few European countries as in the forties, nobody at the Brewery Dubuisson had imagined this BUSH beer would be sold worldwide.
Afterwards, the Brewery Dubuisson has not been allowed to register the BUSH name in several countries. As a result, our BUSH beer is exported in all other countries under the name of SCALDIS.